Columns

I am writing with a heavy heart tonight. Our Carroll County Animal Support group suffered a loss this past week: little Spinner, about whom the News-Democrat featured an article recently left us.

While this little dog had a rough beginning, beginning with being thrown out of the window of a moving car, he had tender love and care, first from Tammie Crawford and for the longest time from Leah Scott Hill and her daughters Savannah and Ashley.

For most of the world, Kentucky is known for three things: fried chicken, horses and bourbon.

Over the past dozen or so years, however, the commonwealth’s international reputation has grown significantly in other areas as well. In fact, our exports doubled between 2000 and 2010, staying well ahead of the national average for most of the decade.

It may be cliché, but for much of Kentucky’s history, it was fair to say most citizens literally couldn’t see the forest for the trees.

The state’s first forester, for example, wrote a century ago that most people “wondered why anyone should be concerned about the forests.” It was considered such a never-ending resource back then that even massive wildfires – which burned a half-million acres alone in 1880 – could not sway public opinion.

It has been a little more than 15 years since the General Assembly revamped Kentucky’s postsecondary education system and set a series of far-reaching goals to reach by the year 2020.

If that seemed a long time down the road in 1997, it doesn’t seem too far now.

The good news: In many ways, we are well within reach of what we had hoped to achieve. We got the latest update last month when the Council on Postsecondary Education presented a comprehensive snapshot of our progress in recent years.

I was in Staples the other day with a friend and was awed by the size and variety of displays for “Back to School” supplies. I think the one that totally blew me away was the one labeled “Locker Accessories.” Accessories for the locker?

As chief justice, I find it disheartening that I can no longer assure you that the courts in Kentucky will be open when you need them. For the first time in modern history, we will have to close every courthouse in the state to balance the Judicial Branch budget. For three days in 2012, we must furlough all court personnel and close all courthouse doors because the General Assembly has not allotted enough money to fund court operations at current levels.